Pies, Palmistry, and Poison by Jessica Lancaster

Author:Jessica Lancaster [Lancaster, Jessica]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-07-23T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 9

August sat by the front door, waiting when I arrived home. Lights inside the house flooded the fog outside. My mother was metres away, standing in the hallway with her familiar, Julian perched on her shoulder.

“For me?” August asked, raising his head to sniff the bag.

I wished it was. “Your stomach can’t handle this daily,” I said, kneeling to him. I pet my thumb from the bridge of his nose. “Did my mother feed you?”

He grumbled in a slight hiss, turning his head toward my mother.

“Of course,” she said, throwing her arms high with dramatic flair. Julian flew, resting on her again when her arms were down. “And it doesn’t matter what he says, he enjoys the tinned food you have for him.”

I knew August would complain for the sake of complaining. “Thanks for coming over,” I said, pushing from my knees to stand. “I wasn’t meant to be so long.”

“It’s fine,” she said. “My house is a mess with renovations anyway.”

I pulled my coat off to hang it on the hook beside the door. “I still need to come over and see what you’ve done to the place.”

“It’s unrecognisable.”

I wasn’t sure how to feel about that. Marissa had made that place a home, and to think it wouldn’t resemble the house I knew so well added to the exhaustive thoughts running through my mind. “This village has become unrecognisable too,” I said. “After everything that’s happened today.”

“Well, let’s eat and we can talk about it,” she said. “I grabbed some leftover cakes from the event, so we have something for dessert.”

I raised my eyebrow at her. “And what’s your motivation?”

“Making up for lost time, darling.”

She had plenty of that to do, but I wasn’t sure if this was the best way to do it. She’d already joined my coven, moved to the village I’d built a life for myself in, and been on the hook for a murder, I guess now was the actual mother-daughter bonding.

My mother prepared plates on the dining table and cups of lemongrass tea to complement the food.

“What happened today?” August asked as I placed the tightly wrapped parcels of food on the plates.

“Someone died at the bake sale,” I said. I was surprised my mother hadn’t already told him.

“I think it’s time we moved,” he said, hunching his back and hissing. “Maybe I’d enjoy the outdoors if we did.”

“Not quite time,” I replied. “And I doubt you’ll move.”

“Anything else?” my mother asked with cutlery in her hand.

“Oo—the salt and vinegar.”

She hummed. “You know that’s no—”

“I just want them,” I replied, shaking my head at whatever she had going through her mind.

“Glad you’re home now,” August said, nuzzling his nose under my hand.

We sat and ate the food. It was good, and thankfully still warm. I had a voracious appetite by the time we were eating, I’d wolfed it all in a matter of moments.

“I don’t want you getting yourself involved,” my mother said.

“I don’t want to get involved, but—”

She coughed into a fist, cutting me off.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.